Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard

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How to raise money for Wikipedia

I see wikipedia is asking for donations. As a high school student, it would be difficult for me to make a donation of consequence. I was wondering, however, about advertising on Wikipedia. Obviously, the idea of advertising antagonizes the wikicommunity. However, if advertising, like donations was made optional, it would be less of an issue. Furthermore it would enable people like me to help support the wikicommunity. One could click on a button on the top left to activate, or deactivate advertising. One can even put in a loyalty point system for time spent on Wiki with advertisments on, and loyal wiki users can be promoted in some way.

Please consider the idea of optional advertising. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Armanraina (talk • contribs) 22:59, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

That would be a question for Wikimedia, not an individual Wikipedia. Have you brought this up there? --Auntof6 (talk) 23:47, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Mass deflag of all interwiki bots

Hi all, now that wikidata has been deployed to all wikis, I propose the mass deflagging of all bots whose sole purpose is to maintain interwiki links. The deflagging is to ensure we will be able to watch for accidental reactivation of the interwiki bots, as one has done so recently and had to be locked to mitigate the damage. Anyway, the mandate (so to speak) for most interwiki tasks is over, and leaving the bot flag as it is poses a risk in the event that a bot account is ever compromised. Chenzw  Talk  13:36, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Ugh...that's not good. If this has the possibility to keep happening then yeah, deflag all of 'em. TCN7JM 13:39, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Sounds good, if this doesn't apply to bots maintaining them via Wikidata. --Auntof6 (talk) 13:54, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

I was going to do this anyways once all the interwikis had been removed from all pages. Had been waiting until then or until a one year inactivity point hit (which is when we usually deflag). If you want to do it quicker I have no problem with it but I don't see much harm in waiting either. Since the interwiki script that most bots use has been updated to work with wikidata. -DJSasso (talk) 14:12, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Actually, I am asking for a fast-track of this process, due in part to the above malfunctioning bot. I understand that malfunctioning bots come by rarely, but I don't fancy having to revert a whole bunch of invalid bot edits again, especially when there is no rationale for those changes anymore. Chenzw  Talk  14:15, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Are you sure it was malfunctioning? It is still valid for some interwiki links to be added to pages until they finish with wikidata implementation is what I was getting at. -DJSasso (talk) 14:17, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Yes, pretty sure about it. #wikimedia-stewards was alerted, bot account was locked, and wikidata phase 1 (the part dealing with interwikis) has already been deployed to all Wikipedias. Chenzw  Talk  14:21, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Ok that is cool. I realize that Phase 1 is deployed. But as part of fixing incorrect wikis I believe some bots are putting the interwikis on the wiki still for other bots to then come and migrate them to wikidata. Atleast that had been happening, not sure if its still happening. But yes in looking into it his bot does appear to be incorrect. I have no problem removing it for any bot that is only flagged for interwiki. Some also do double redirect cleanup etc so leave those be until they "time out". -DJSasso (talk) 14:23, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Please don't. There are still langlinks that need to be stored locally (redirects, section links, etc). According to [1] there are over 7k links still on simplewiki, which probably can't be added to wikidata for various reasons. Hastily mass-deflagging bots without understanding the full situation is just a bad idea. Legoktm (talk) 08:01, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Assuming we want the redirect and section langlinks maintained (and I'm not sure we do), are the bots able to tell which kinds of langlinks they should continue managing and which they shouldn't? I believe there are still a lot of them that do need to be moved to Wikidata -- I still find a lot of them when I do work with AWB. In any case, deflagging bots shouldn't break anything -- it would just stop some automated work from being done. --Auntof6 (talk) 09:37, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

I have no idea how your bots work, some might work, some might not. That's an entirely different issue. Bot ops should fix their bots if they are broken. If your bots stop working and you don't maintain your interwiki links, it doesn't become an issue for just this project, you corrupt the entire network of interwiki links. Legoktm (talk) 10:29, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

User:Brya

User:Brya has arrived with a history from English wiki. He has been aggressively commenting and deleting Type specimen, and needs watching. Macdonald-ross (talk) 16:28, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Link problem

When I go to a page and click "Add links" in the "Other languages" space it says "An unknown error occurred.". This is going on for weeks. Is there any general problem or is this only happening for me? Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 18:08, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

It still does the same. Can someone please reply? Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 11:33, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

I know realized that it was because I didn't rename my account there from Receptie to Reception. Sorry for disturbing you. Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 11:35, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

It is not disturbing us...I am glad you solved the problem, and your solution might help someone else in the future.--Peterdownunder (talk) 11:48, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Two different bot edits

I just realized that two bots clean the sandbox (Rileybot and HJ-bot). I now realize that each one does it in a different way. One writs "editing skills" and one writes "changing skills" (link). Can you please fix this? Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 13:38, 24 August 2013 (UTC)

Hazard did ask Riley to use the specified text rather than his own version over a month ago. He hasn't replied. This is why retired users shouldn't operate bots... Osiris (talk) 14:09, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Oh, ok. Then what can be done about this? Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 14:13, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Really we shouldn't have approved a second bot to do the same task without first ensuring they used the same text. That being said since he has not responded to Hazards request I have temporarily blocked the bot requesting he make that change. If he does not respond in a week I will simply remove his flag as a bot operator must respond to issues with their bots. -DJSasso (talk) 14:45, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Just noting, they did use the same text until I saw this and made this edit. Re-checking mis bot request, though, there was no mention of that.  Hazard-SJ  ✈  08:15, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Spamming by Fatjesus564/Cornucopia

A user that has been adding promotional content to the English Wikipedia for at least a month now has apparently come to our project as well. They're known as Morning277 or MooshiePorkFace over there, but here it looks to me like they're using different accounts:

• Fatjesus564 (talk • contribs • CA • deleted contribs • nuke contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log)
• Cornucopia (talk • contribs • CA • deleted contribs • nuke contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log)

Pretty much all of the articles they dumped on us within the space of a few hours have been previously attributed to socks of either Morning277 or MooshiePorkFace on enwiki. They are probably getting paid for their edits, which is fine for them, but all of the articles they've created are very promotional in nature, and it's not clear whether any of the subjects are notable. None of the articles are even close to being in Simple English. I'm proposing that we nuke them. Osiris (talk) 17:43, 26 August 2013 (UTC)

Full list of pages created

4cabling (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

AEgis Technologies (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Brendan Wallace (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Brosix (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Calnet (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Caren Turner (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Chris Krause (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

David Gorodyansky (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Enigma NMS (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Gerald Imber (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Helsinn (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

InVNT (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Kaleem Shah (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Legitmix (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Message Systems (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Neal Creighton, Sr. (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Oogwave (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Qubole (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Reval (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

ServiceMax (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Telly (network) (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

The RLJ Companies (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Tom Dyson (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Wayne Tamarelli (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

WillowTree Apps (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Zultanite (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

• Kill with fire - I have already deleted most obvious advertisments that were created by Fatjesus564. Chenzw  Talk  18:02, 26 August 2013 (UTC)
• (Non-administrator observation) Off the top of my head, these 15 (out of 26) are previously-suspected or confirmed Morning277 topics discovered on the regular English Wikipedia:

4cabling (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

AEgis Technologies (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Brendan Wallace (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Brosix (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Calnet (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

David Gorodyansky (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Enigma NMS (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Gerald Imber (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Legitmix (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Neal Creighton, Sr. (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Oogwave (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Telly (network) (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

The RLJ Companies (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

Tom Dyson (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

WillowTree Apps (change · talk · history · links · watch · logs · delete)

They were (or should have been) already listed in the enwiki Morning277 long-term abuse page.

This company has a habit of restoring deleted articles, but under a different title, e.g. Foo might reappear as Foo (company). If the preferred title is create-protected, at least it will draw scrutiny when someone tries to move the article to the proper place. Rybec (talk) 01:59, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Note: David Gorodyansky is a near-verbatim copy of what was posted on enwiki. Tom Dyson starts off the same way. Let me know if you want me to check more articles, but that's enough for me to block on enwiki. --Rschen7754 07:36, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

 Done Great! Thanks for the help, everyone. Hopefully we'll be able to stop this quickly; we definitely don't want the kind of activity we're seeing on enwiki. Osiris (talk) 20:06, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Past accounts that have edits here: User:Chiliconwiki, User:Anissa putri, User:816phloh, User:NaturalScholar. May need review. I also have a report at m:User:Rschen7754/Reports/Morning277. --Rschen7754 20:15, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Aha! Thanks, Rschen! I've blocked them (except for the one that's locked) and I'll get a CU to try to see if we can't find any more lying around. Osiris (talk) 20:33, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Were these articles Fatjesus564/Cornucopia contributions? I'd like to add them to the long-term abuse page on enwiki if they were.

Nicole Kersh

Deepak Ravindran

Incrowdnow

Osspass waziristan

Real life music group

Zhi wen

-- Rybec (talk) 20:28, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Nicole Kersh, Deepak Ravindran and Incrowdnow were by Fatjesus564. The rest are not related. Osiris (talk) 20:43, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Goblinbot4

I have noticed that from 7 August Goblinbot4 has not been editing anymore. Is there a problem? Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 15:46, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Yes, there is. That's why the bot is inactive. I meant to update the code, but haven't found the time to do so. Chenzw  Talk  15:48, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Ok. I was just curious. Reception123/Receptie123 (talk) 15:49, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Janevzoo

There is a considerable zoo of sockpuppets active through a huge number of WMF projects including simple that pushes photos of its dog, articles about its race (see d:Q38991), and family members Ratko Janev (d:Q477729, appears to be notable) and Igor Janev (d:Q1449737, appears not be notable but blown up with faked references). See the checkuser cases at Commons and at en-wp. There is a cross-wiki discussion about this case at Meta. Many of the articles about Igor Janev have already been deleted including Igor Janev at the local project, see Wikipedia:Requests for deletion/Requests/2013/Igor Janev. But you possibly want to block the sockpuppets and check the articles Tosa Inu and Ratko Janev. --AFBorchert (talk) 06:45, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the notice. Osiris (talk) 21:09, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Shelland/Crouch, Swale

• Shelland (talk • contribs • CA • deleted contribs • nuke contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log)

Based on CU evidence from Bsadowski1, the above account has been blocked indefinitely as a sock of Crouch, Swale (talk • contribs • CA • deleted contribs • nuke contribs • logs • filter log • block user • block log) (also see en:Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Crouch, Swale/Archive). I have half a mind to delete all the articles created by him, but am unsure because I am not that familiar with the geography of the UK and his previous disruptive behaviour. Can someone also please take a look at the articles? Chenzw  Talk  16:17, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

The placenames I checked were all genuine. Macdonald-ross (talk) 19:14, 29 August 2013 (UTC)

Blocked user with offensive name

I just blocked a user with an offensive name. What else, if anything, needs to be done in a case like this? Do we delete the account or anything? --Auntof6 (talk) 01:15, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Accounts cannot be deleted. We used to rename them, but that is no longer done. I guess you can choose to delete the username from the block log. Chenzw  Talk  04:38, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. I think I'll choose not to, because it's the idea in the user name that's offensive, not the actual words. If it were profanity, I might do that. --Auntof6 (talk) 08:23, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

needs advice?

User:Christopher Universe seems to need advice. Macdonald-ross (talk) 11:34, 4 September 2013 (UTC) (later) It turns out his work was all vandalism. I have replaced it with sound material. Macdonald-ross (talk) 13:17, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Oregonian2012

See here. This is frankly out of line and downright rude, and surely worthy of a temporary block per our 'Unkind/Being rude' policy. That said, this is just the latest in a long line of fairly recent hostile and inappropriate posts. I've not got time to scour through to find them all now, but this user has becoming pretty disruptive recently (imo), and I wouldn't say that a short-term ban would be too far at this moment in time. Although the user has retired this cannot be an excuse to avoid sanctions. Goblin 23:53, 4 September 2013 (UTC) I ♥ Yottie!

I'm not coming back. I'm 63 years old, the survivor of two heart attacks, a disabled and decorated Vietnam vet, and a former government worker. I'm mentally ill and suicidal. My doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, case workers, family, and friends have urged me to do something like Simple English. It's something I can do in my wheelchair and has kept me occupied for hours. Much as I enjoyed the site, I don't have the patience for the high schoolers. I give up. You win. I won't be back. Oregonian2012 (talk) 00:25, 5 September 2013 (UTC)